James A. Crabtree is an American artist whose work has appeared in

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

(RPGs) and related materials.

Career

Jim Crabtree attended the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, where he was a member of a game club attended by several other students who would become RPG writers and artists. After graduation, Crabtree's first artistic credit was for the interior art of '' Hawkmoon'' (

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon'' ...

, 1986). He then worked as an illustrator for TSR, producing black-and-white line drawings for ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' as well as interior art for popular supplements like '' Night Howlers'' (1992), '' House of Strahd'' (1993), '' The Complete Book of Gnomes & Halflings'' (1994), ''

Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs ''Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs'' is an accessory for the 2nd edition of the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, published in 1995. Contents ''Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs'' is part of the "Wanderer's Chronicles" line ...

'' (1995), '' Den of Thieves'' (1996), ''The Illithiad'' (1998), and the second edition of ''Dark Sun''. Crabtree also provided art for several other game companies, including

White Wolf A white wolf or Arctic wolf is a mammal of the ''Canidae'' family and a subspecies of the gray wolf. It may also refer to: Organizations * White Wolf (band), a Canadian heavy metal band * White Wolf (band), white power oi band from the USA * ...

('' The Book of Shadows'', 1993; and '' Digital Web'', 1993);

Iron Crown Enterprises Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) is a publishing company that has produced role playing, board, miniature, and collectible card games since 1980. Many of ICE's better-known products were related to J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, but the ''Ro ...

('' Spell Law, 3rd edition'' 1995), and

Pinnacle Entertainment Group Pinnacle Entertainment Group is a publisher of role-playing games and wargames. History When Shane Lacy Hensley decided to create a 19th-century miniatures game he contacted Charles Ryan's company Chameleon Eclectic about publishing it. The resul ...

('' Deadlands: Hell on Earth'' , 1998; and ''Deadlands Reloaded!'', 2006). Crabtree was featured in a special article in Issue 256 of ''

'' titled "Rogues", which displayed 14 of Crabtree's portraits of rogue-like characters with the note, "When it comes to drawing rogues, Jim Crabtree feels he has an advantage. Many of the characters you see here came from sketches made at conventions and embellished with touches from characters in his own game."

References

External links

* American illustrators Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Role-playing game artists Year of birth missing (living people) {{D&D-stub